Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) Raised to Buy at Bank of America

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) was upgraded by investment analysts at Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Tuesday,Finviz reports. The firm currently has a $31.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 19.71% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Piper Sandler raised Liberty Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $17.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Liberty Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of Liberty Energy in a report on Thursday, January 15th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $34.00 price target on shares of Liberty Energy in a report on Friday, January 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.17.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

Shares of Liberty Energy stock opened at $25.90 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.10 and a beta of 0.49. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.31. Liberty Energy has a 12 month low of $9.50 and a 12 month high of $27.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The company reported $0.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.16) by $0.21. The business had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $880.59 million. Liberty Energy had a net margin of 3.69% and a return on equity of 1.24%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.10 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Liberty Energy will post 0.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Liberty Energy

In related news, CFO Michael Stock sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.38, for a total transaction of $634,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 784,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,918,706.22. This represents a 3.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider R Sean Elliott sold 25,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.40, for a total transaction of $635,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 343,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,716,010. The trade was a 6.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Liberty Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Liberty Energy by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 22,583 shares of the company’s stock worth $417,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. First Horizon Corp grew its holdings in Liberty Energy by 58.2% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 1,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 596 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its position in Liberty Energy by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 37,085 shares of the company’s stock worth $685,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its stake in Liberty Energy by 39.9% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,140 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 610 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 63,776 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,177,000 after purchasing an additional 782 shares during the last quarter. 98.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Liberty Energy

Liberty Energy Inc provides hydraulic services and related technologies to onshore oil and natural gas exploration, and production companies in North America. The company offers hydraulic fracturing services, including complementary services, such as wireline services, proppant delivery solutions, field gas processing and treating, compressed natural gas (CNG) delivery, data analytics, related goods comprising sand mine operations, and technologies; and well site fueling and logistics. As of as of December 31, 2023, the company owned and operated a fleet of approximately 40 active hydraulic fracturing; and two sand mines in the Permian Basin.